FicWad

The dark dungeon room gave no light to couple of the holding cells the Plutarkians had down in the basement. A lone figure was alone in the last cell, lying down on the itchy bunk. Suddenly the person heard some commotion coming somewhere. This person thought that maybe the Plutarkians were coming for another interrogation session. Not that it would give them any more information about what they want, the person thought and smirked evilly.

The metal door leading to the basement was opened and three mouse looking aliens were brought down to the cells. Four Plutarkian guards pushed them all to one of the cells. The mice with red antennae yelled something at them when the door was sealed closed. The person in the last cell thought she saw one of the mice spitting at the Plutarkian guards. Angry, the one who got mouse spit all over his legs, raised his weapon and shot at the spatter, a white mouse with light brown coloured cargo pants & jacket with a blue bandanna around his head. The mouse went down with a yelp as the laser nicked his arm. Some more yelling in a language she couldn't understand, and then the guards were gone, leaving the mice with her.

She was more than happy that the cell she was in had no illumination. If she was lucky, the mice wouldn't notice her if she kept quiet. Realizing there was, and making "friends" with, one alien race was enough to her. She wondered how many other species of aliens she would come by on her journey.

Watching at the mice again she saw that one of them, a giant grey coloured one, was helping his fallen comrade and tending his wound. The last of the three was dun coloured and to her he looked like the leader of this team. Even now his facial expression gave away the fact that he was thinking of a way to get out of here. They were speaking in a language she couldn't understand at all. She was quite certain though that the white coloured was swearing. As with all languages, it's usually the swear words that are easy to spot..


She didn't know how long it was until couple Plutarkians came down once again. The mice had been sleeping nearly the entire time, after they had treaded the white one. She had checked the mice out, fascinated by their sheer size and amount of bulk they had. It was almost ridiculously much. She wondered if their muscles ever got on their way..

The basement door opened and in came two Plutarkian guards and her usual interrogator, Midge. He was some sort of a psychologist at the Plutarkian army. He was a big fish-man with all your usual Plutarkian looks. And smell.

"Well, well, have you all met each other yet? Made friends?" Midge asked sneering as he walked past the cell were the mice were. They all looked puzzled, still unaware of the young woman in the last, dark cell. Probably wondering why he's speaking Earth language, she thought wittingly as she sat on her bunk, her back braced against the wall.

"I take it you haven't" he said then, and came to a stop at her cell door. "Ready to give us the code yet?"
Smirking, she got up and walked slowly to the cell door with a fake expression of defeat. "You.. You give me no choice Midge.." she stuttered, "I'll give you the code! Please, I just want out of here!"

The mice in the other cell just stared in awe at her. She was indeed from Earth; no fur, just skin, delicate bone structure. Shoulder length, violet hair and striking eyes with the same colour. She had black, tight jeans and a black leather belt with a quite big buck around her waist. Her boots were black as well and probably a size or two too big for her. The jacket that was open was some strange material, but the collar was high and something fabric. From the looks of it she lacked some muscle, unlike Martian women.

The Plutarkian's face lighted up like a light bulb. I cracked her! I did it! He thought and cheered himself. "Now that's a good girl.." he seethed to her and nodded her to continue. "You better write this down" she said with a scared and shaky voice. Pulling out a piece of paper and a weird looking pen, he waited anxiously for the code.

"U-o-y-k-c-u-f" she said each letter slowly and always left a little silent moment after each one. Midge glanced at the short, yet weird code. "This is it?" he asked, bewildered. "You have to read it from the other direction" she said back.

"F-u-c-k-y-o-u" he translated and after understanding what it meant he whipped his head to stare at the girl in the cell. She was smirking once again, with an evil leery grin on her face. "Midge, Midge, Midge.." she taunted him as she turned and walked back to the darkest corner of her cell, "You should know by now that I'm never, and I mean NEVER, going to give that code to you."

The Plutarkian fumed. "This is your last and final chance you Earth bitch" he hissed angrily, "if you don't give that code to me right now, I'm going to have to ask the guards to take you up to the surface and shoot you down."

"You do what you have to do Midge," she said coolly as she sat down on her bunk again, "as will I."

Midge looked like he was going to explode. He turned and stormed out from the basement, the guards with him. As the door banged shut, she laid down on the bunk. Let's see what the mice do now..

--

"Hey babe!" Vinnie yelled towards the last, dark cell. He had tried to get the girl to speak to them, but he hadn't had any luck so far.

"Vincent, let the girl be. She would have answered to you already if she wanted to speak" Throttle said with a bored voice from the ground. He had been sitting there for a while now and his ass was getting sore. "Yeah, and I think she doesn't even understand you" Modo growled from the one and only bunk in the sell. They had all decided to take turns on who would be lying on it every hour. "Besides, aren't you and Harvey and item nowadays?" Modo teased and leaned his head back.

Vinnie huffed "We would if it weren't for Stoker" He sat down on the ground beside Throttle, "I don't wanna steal his girl.. Even though Harvey says she isn't, but you have all seen how he acts when she's around" Throttle and Modo both nodded. They were all sure that all at Freedom Fighters HQ had noticed the Stoker/Harvey relationship.

"So why do you think she's here?" Modo asked nodding at the last cell, "And what did Midget ask from her?"

"Somehow I got a feeling that he was asking for some sort of a code, but she didn't give it to him. You do realize she's from Earth?"

Then the door to the basement was opened again and in walked another group of Plutarkian soldiers. They all had a leery smile on their faces and from the looks of it much unpleasant torture weapons. "Your turn now mousies.." one of them said grinning and the cell door was opened.

--

Another blood chilling cry slashed through the air and she cringed. She felt compassion for the mice. They were, just like her, taken prisoner. She hadn't been tortured yet though, she was still uncertain as to why. Not that it would've helped them. They would never get the code if it was up to her.

The grey furred mouse was moaning as she lifted her head to see what the Plutarkians were doing to them. They were all shackled to the wall; their wrists and ankles had huge manacles strapped on. The grey one had long, bloody stripes on his chest. A huge pool of blood was under him. It looked like the Plutarkians had decided to break him first and the two others later.

The dun mouse muttered some angry words and received a massive blow to his stomach, which made him double over. Well, almost double over since the manacles held him in place. Someone had stuck him with a knife couple times to his arms. One knife wound looked worst than the others. She thought that the blade must have went all the way in and the torturer had then twisted it inside his flesh to make it more agonizing.

The white mouse had a clash on his forehead and the blood that was dripping down from it had already reached to his eye level. He tried to blink most of the blood away in order to see what was happening. Another bloody clash was running down his left mouse-ear. He was trying hard not to put too much weight on his right leg, which was severed by a kick from one of the Plutarkians. His knee must be in flames, she thought as she continued surveying the scene.

Suddenly the inside com link the Plutarkians had in this building came to life and gave a report. The five soldiers talked after the report was over and four of them left the room. The last one walked in slow circles in front of the mice, clearly trying to decide which mouse to hurt next and in which way. He stopped his circling and looked thoughtful for a second or two..

But that was enough time for her to attack. She reached her arms through the holes in the cell door and got a hold of his head. In one fast hand move he had snapped his neck and the guard fell down to the floor into a lifeless heap. Crouching in her cell she once again took hold of him and dragged him a little closer to the cell door as she searched for the keys. Finding them, she tried to find the right key.

The mice were talking in their own language again.

--

"Did you see that? She just snapped that Plutarkian's neck!" Vinnie exclaimed and watched in awe as the girl searched the key chain. He hopped on his left leg and winced when the hop made his right leg hurt.

Throttle sighed, "We have eyes Vinnie. Of course we saw that" His arms were hurting from the wounds and because of the long time they had been shackled there.

Modo was out like a taillight.

The girl had finally got the right key and was out of her cell. Searching through the fallen guards pockets she found a gun and took it. She was just about to step over the body and leave the room when she cast a glance at their direction.

Even though Throttle knew she wouldn't understand what he was saying, he decided to give it a go. "Could you help us out here?"

--

She had no idea what the dun coloured mouse had said, but she thought she had a pretty good idea. Debating with herself a moment longer she raised the gun in her hand and shot the three mice free by firing at their manacles.

The grey one, who had been out cold, decided it was time to come around again. He dabbled something in their own language when he came to, sitting on the floor. The white one massaged his wrists while the dun one stood up and gave her a small nod and a smile.

She was still a little terrified at their sheer size and looks. But all in all they were hundred times better than the smelly fish like Plutarkians she had come to known.

A huge blast made the whole building they were in shook on its grounds. The white mouse gave a huge shriek and a pose that told her their rescuers had come for them. She wished Earth people had had more knowledge about aliens and space ships..

--

"YEEHAA! Looks like the cavalry has come once again!" Vinnie yelled and raised his fist to the air. "I hope they got our bikes with them" Modo said, sharp and ready to battle. "I'm pretty sure they do, bro" Throttle turned to look at the girl that was with them, "We should take her with.. Hey, where did she go?" his eyes searched the area but the girl was nowhere to be found.

"I don't blame her. Earth people don't know about aliens existing, you know that. She's probably scared" Modo reasoned with his bro while Vinnie called for their bikes. Soon the familiar roar reached them and their bikes came to them.

"I'll go search for the babe" Vinnie shouted and was off like a Martian devil, a small but fast animal that had once been roaming around the planet. "First time he declined to whip some Plutarkian ass" Modo said scratching his jaw. Throttle just chuckled.

--

Running along the corridor she tried to run as silent as she could. Her heart was thumping in her chest and her breath was hitching painfully. She had been a prisoner for so long that her condition was close to none existent.

She heard the bangs and gunfight outside the building, and decided to leave for the other direction. Taking a turn to the right she skidded to a stop when she met three Plutarkians with big and mean looking guns cutting her way..

The soldiers raised their weapons and aimed at her. "Stop right there!" the one in the middle said, "Drop the gun!"

She thought about her chances of turning and running to the corridor she had come, but the distance was so far that she knew she wouldn't make it. Sighing in defeat, she obeyed and dropped her gun. It made a clanging sound as it hit the floor. The Plutarkians looked pleased, but not for long.

The sound of a motorcycle made the Plutarkians face went down and pale in the same time. She heard the sound end somewhere behind her, and she risked casting a glance behind her. The white mouse was there, on a red racing bike and a big gun in one hand. With a smirk on his face, he said something that made the Plutarkians look angry.

She could feel the tension in the air around her. She was in the middle of a Mexican firefight! Only there were no Mexicans around..

Making eye contact with the mouse she got the feeling that he wanted her to jump out of the way when the time was right. Her muscles tensed as she got ready to move. Seconds ticked by. Then he gave an imperceptible nod and she dived as fast as he could.

The sound of gunfire was deafening and she put her hands to her ears to try and buffer some of the noise. When she opened her eyes and looked at the direction where the Plutarkians had stood. She found out that they were all down. Blood and body parts were on the floor and walls too. She didn't feel any pity for them. Getting up from the ground where she had crouched she searched for the mouse.

There he was, sitting on his bike and looking as cocky as hell. He put the gun somewhere inside his bike and then gave her a grin and patted the empty place behind him. She eyed him curiously for a while and then, deciding he was her only chance to get out of here, she went to him and sat down.

She placed her hands lightly on his hips, afraid to touch him. She even sat a little farther away from him so that she wouldn't be in contact with his back.

--

Vinnie sensed her hesitation but didn't let that distract him. Taking hold of her hands that were on his hips, he placed them more securely around him. In the same time his tail wrapper around her waist and pressed her against his back.

She gave a small gasp but he only smiled.

"I don't want you to fall of honey" he said as they took off.

--

The sceneries zipping by her astonished her. The colours were mostly reddish and she wondered what it would feel like to push her fingers into the sandy like surface of planet Mars.

At first, when they had gone outside the building, she had been afraid to even take a breath. She hadn't been sure if the air, or if there even was air, was breathable. After holding her breath for quite some time, she had taken a shallow intake of Martian air. It in fact was breathable, but it felt colder than Earth air. There was also a strange, prickly smell and it reminded her of the time she had been on the desert and her friend had kicked up some dust.

She was glad the mouse had decided to make her hold him tighter, because the speed they were at made her scared. Her father had brought her a motorcycle as a present when she had turned 20, a blue and orange Aprilia, and she had loved to go out and cruise around. This wasn't cruising though, this was madness! She wondered how fast they were really going..

The other two mice had joined them the minute they were out, and were now close by. The dun mouse was riding a bike that looked like a Harley Davidson, though she could tell it had to be modified. The grey one had more of a chopper like bike. The rescuers, 10 mice or so, had all the same kind of white strange looking bikes.

After half an hour or so she saw a high looking building loom ahead. The mice headed towards it, so she predicted that this place must be some sort of an HQ to the mice. One section of the wall opened up when they closed in, and inside the building they went. A large garage with many different looking bikes was inside the vast area.

Stopping the bike the mouse gave her time to get up from his bike. His friends parked beside him. She was scared and nervous. What would happen now? Yell somewhere above her made her turn her gaze up. There, standing on the rail and watching down at them, was a dark brown mouse. 'This is getting weirder by the minute', she thought. She was also quite sure the yell had been about her.

--

She had guessed right.

"Who the heck is the chick?" Stoker yelled as his loyal mice were back once again. He was mad at them for bringing back a woman who clearly wasn't one of them and they knew nothing about.

"Hey, take it easy Coach! She was in a Plutarkian jail with us. Helped us escape" Throttle interfered.

Stoker walked down the stairs to them. He could see the girl's scared expression from her eyes when he came close enough. "So who is she?" he asked when he reached Throttle.

"We don't know because she doesn't speak our language. Only Earths"

Modo came to them from his bike. "You know, I think I can help with this" Everyone gave him a curious glance. "Rimfire likes to watch Earth broadcasts from time to time. I think he knows some words and would be able to help us. Translate what she says and our questions to her"

"Well what are you waiting for bro? Go get him here!" Vinnie shout and grabbed the girl near him, putting his arm around her shoulders, "Soon we'll be able to speak babe!"

The girl gave him a wide-eyed and scared look. "Vin, let her go, you are scaring her" Throttle muttered from his bike.

"Yeah yeah.." regretfully letting go of her he stood a little farther away from her after seeing her expression. He hadn't meant to scare her further.

--

She had no idea what the mice were planning, but it certainly looked like it concerned her.. She had a bad feeling about this. Whatever it was.

The white mouse didn't look so dreary as the others did and she took some comfort from that. Although the same mouse in question had just minute ago tried to get near her. She had to confess that he had the good looks when looked closely. 'What the hell am I thinking about?' she thought and shook herself mentally.

It looked like the mice wanted her to follow them. The grey one got on his bike and took of. As to where, she had no idea.

--

Walking to a dinner hall of some sorts she cringed at the site greeting her. Mice were sitting on benches around long tables and they were all eating food. All were dressed in a similar way as her 'rescuers' were; brown clothing with different coloured bandannas.

When they entered the loud noise in the hall died down and everyone stared at them walking along the main path. She walked a little more closely beside the white mouse; afraid by the hostile looks the other mice around the tables gave her. She clearly wasn't welcomed here.

The white mouse saw her expression, and gave her a smile of courage. She was glad she was with these guys.. They seemed more laid back than the others did. Though she was pretty sure that if a Martian mouse had been brought to an army facility at Earth, the greetings would have been more icy than here.

Going to a lounge room, at least she thought it was a lounge room, she was directed to sit on a couch of sorts and the white mouse sat with her.

Then the three mice began talking about something she had no clue.. This gave her a chance to observe the mice better. Their clothes were dirty and stitched from here and there, the 24/7-battle mode was clearly written on their faces and they all looked like they could use a weeks rest.

War. They were protecting their homes and families. Just like her father had done when he had invented the shield for Earth. For the very first time she let her mind wonder and her eyelids grew heavier and heavier..

--

"This is the last cable I have to plug.. Now it should be running smoothly again" the muffed male voice came from under a computer table. The man rose up to his full height. He was your normal height guy, not small but not a basketball player either. He had black, short hair that grew longer on top of his head. He had blue eyes and eyeglasses, and he wore a white lab coat. The stubble on his chin told that he had been deprived of sleep lately.

"Can I boost the system now, Dad?" the girl sitting on one of the work chairs asked. She had violet hair and same coloured eyes.

"Yes you can, dear" her father said gently and came to stand behind her, observing the proceedings. Just as she was about to type down the last command the door to the space shuttle's laboratory was burst open with force.

"What the..?" her father started, but was caught mid sentence when he saw the aliens. The same ones he was trying to save the Earth from. About the same size as her father, their height didn't scare, but the fish like appearance and the terrible smell was icky enough. Their angry faces however did make her scared. She grabbed her father's arm for support and strength. His father didn't seem to even notice her death grip.

"Woyrn oien urhk!" one of the greenish aliens said and pointed some sort of a blaster at them. His voice sounded angry and his actions spoke of violence as well. Her father came between her and the aliens, trying to keep her safe.

"Marnia*," her father whispered to her, "type the last commands to the computer. Quickly!" Obeying her father, she slowly turned her back to him so the aliens wouldn't notice and started to type the last few lines to complete the safety shield.

"What do you.. What do you fishes want?" his father asked from the aliens, his voice a little shaky, but determined otherwise.

"Byoen gref.. We.. want.. you.. to.. come.. with us" a gruff voice said, keeping pauses between every word, as if he had trouble remembering them. Marnia had finished typing and hit the Enter key to complete it. A whooshing sound could be heard and then, by looking out of the small shuttle window, a faint blue coloured and orb shaped shield came up and covered the Earth.

The fish looking aliens went ballistic when they saw what had happened. One of them pointed his gun at Marnia's father, and with an evil smile shot him to the chest.

Hearing her father's pained cry she turned and had the most horrific view of seeing her father fell down to the floor, a huge, bloody hole on his chest. "NOOO!" she cried out and went down beside her father. He was gasping for air and his breath hissed every time he tried to breath in air.

She had tears in her eyes as she was trying to control the bleeding. It didn't help though, the wound was too big. Her hands were completely covered in her father's warm blood and she couldn't stop looking to his eyes, which were full of horror and shock.

One of his arms reached out and then grabbed her arm, pulling her closer to him. "Marnia.. Promise.. Promise that you won't tell them code. Protect it.. with your life.. Please.." blood was already coming out of his mouth as he spoke. "For the sake of hum.. huma.. humanity.. you.. hav.. e.. to.. to.." and then his hand loosened on her arm and dropped down. His eyes closed and his head rolled back.

"Dad?" she managed to whisper out among her tears. "Dad?" she tried again and shook his father's shoulders. "DAD!?" she finally screamed out. Then a hand was grabbing her by her shoulder, ordering her to get up from the floor.

"No.. No.." she tried to get the hand away from her, "NO! Leave me alone you son of a bitch!" she shrieked and turned so that she could attack the alien.

--

She woke up with a gasp. She had stood up from the couch and she could feel cold sweat ran down her back. Her breathing was irregular and she tried to even it out quickly. That's when she saw everyone in the room, including the grey mouse who had returned with a young boy mouse, was looking at her in wonder.

She could hear someone moaning right next to her. She turned to see the white mouse sitting on the floor, massaging his arm and giving her a questionable look. 'Oh Gods, what did I do now?' she thought, although she had a pretty good idea.

The young boy mouse came to her when the grey one gave him a gentle push. Looking a little shy, he came to her and gave her a small smile. Then he extended his hand and said in English, "Hello, my name is Rimfire"

--

She was awestruck. This young mouse had addressed her in English! "I.. I.." she stumbled as she shook his hand in return, "I'm Marnia, but.. How come you understand and speak English but these others don't seem to.."

"Oh, I watch Earth TV at home!" he told her. Leaning towards her he winked and said in a silent voice, "I love Gill Grissom from C.S.I. Las Vegas"

She raised her eyebrows, which made her expression look comical at best. The brown coloured mouse came standing beside Rimfire and asked him something. Rimfire answered by saying her name. The other mice gather around them, curious.

"Stoker here wants to know why you were held prisoner by the Plutarkians" Rimfire suddenly asks her. 'Great!', Marnia thought at once, 'Go straight for the honey pot.' She could see that this 'Stoker' was anxiously waiting for her answer.

She sighed and rest her weight on her left leg and put her hands into her jacket pockets. "My father and I were orbiting the Earth in a space shuttle when these Plutarkians came. They shot my dad and took me as a prisoner" she told the story short in a controlled voice. Rimfire translated her story to the others.

Another question followed suit. "Ah, Stoker says that the guys saw the Plutarkian guards asking for a code of some sort? He just wants to know that if it was a code, and what kind of is it?" 'Ooooh boy..' she thought as she tried to come up with an answer.

"Uh, well, they were asking me for a code that only my father knows.. Knew.. I just acted like I knew it too, because if they had known I didn't have it, they would have killed me at once. It's a computer code of sorts.. I don't really know what it does.." she quickly lied. Again the young mouse translated.

She held her breath and waited. Stoker seemed to think for a moment, his hand resting on his chin (Marnia wondered how on Earth these mice had human like features, such as this). Then he finally spoke to Rimfire.

"Stoker says that since there isn't a way to get you back to Earth at the moment, and because Plutarkians and Sand Raiders are all over the place, you can stay here with us" the boy said. She took a mental note to later ask what these 'Sand Raiders' were, but for now she just nodded solemnly and said her thanks, which Rimfire again translated.

Stoker only nodded and left the room. The three mice had been quiet this whole time, but now that Stoker was gone, they literally attacked Rimfire and started speed talking to him. Marnia gave a small giggle at the sight. Looks like she is popular!

--

"She can have Taro's old room, tell her that. Oh, and ask her if she had anything that belongs to her at the Plutarkian base where we were at. Next time we raid the place we could get them back to her"

"Ask her if she would like to go for a ride with me!" "Vincent!!" "What?"

"First things first, we should ask her if she's hungry or thirsty. I know I am"

Rimfire hissed at them angrily and stepped outside the circle the older mice had done around him. Cheese, even Stoker had been easier to handle. He thought that uncle Modo's suggestion was best though.

Asking the girl and telling the others she, in fact, was hungry, they decided to take her to one of the Martian restaurants still up and working. The chow at Freedom Fighter HQ's kitchen wasn't so glorious..

--

Marnia literally fell to the bed. The room she had been given wasn't big and there wasn't much furniture either: a bed, a closet, a table and a chair. The window was a small, round one, but the shades were down and she didn't have the energy to get up and look outside.

She had had high suspicions as to could the Martian food be eatable, but she had been so hungry she hardly even tasted the food she wolfed it down. She didn't get any bellyaches, so she thought there were no worries. The only thing to drink seemed to be root beer, which was also good.

The company had been nice. Though she had no idea what the mice were talking most of the time, Rimfire tried to translate things for her as quickly as he could. She was glad, no, overjoyed, that the young boy knew English. She felt a lot better knowing there was someone she could turn to when she needed help with something in this strange planet.

The white mouse named Vincent, Vinnie to friends, had been constantly with her. She didn't mind it though. He was friendly, maybe overly so, but it was good to have a big guy like that beside her when there were lots of mice who didn't know her and maybe saw her as a threat. She catch herself looking at his direction way too many times during the night. She was hoping the others didn't see it.

Couple times their eyes had made contact, but she had always managed to come up with something she wanted to ask from him, so it wouldn't look like she was swooning over him. 'Jeez, what am I thinking?' she thought to herself, 'I wasn't swooning, I'm.. I'm.. Well, I find him interesting in a non-romantic way, that's all'

Rimfire had told her the names of the three mice when they had been cruising to the tavern. The dun one was Throttle, and as she had thought, he was the unofficial leader of these three mice. Big grey one was Modo, and he was also Rimfire's uncle. All and all these new guys she had met felt wonderful. She wondered what tomorrow would bring.

Sighing in content, she drifted off to sleep..

--

"It has to be an important computer code, if it even is that. I watched her closely when she answered the question, I could see she was lying about something. Tell you the truth I don't buy this 'important computer code' stuff. She knows what it is and how it works, didn't just want to tell us" Stoker told the light brown mouse walking beside him, "It could be that Plutarkians have trained her to be a mole. A spy that will tell them what's happening here."

"So why didn't you throw her to jail then?" Mace asked, interested in what his boss was saying.

They stopped in front of the elevator and Mace pressed a button to call one down. Stoker sighed in frustration and scratched the back of his head. "I don't know.. She just seems like a sweet, innocent girl.. Then again maybe the fact that she helped my boys to escape has softened my mind" he answered.

The elevator had come down. Stepping inside Mace waited for the doors to close before addressing his boss again. "Most spies are like that boss. Seem innocent and all that. They are loyal, want to help.. But in the end of the day, when the push comes to shove, they are the first ones to leave"

Stoker eyed Mace closely, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the mouse's face. It was the things that Mace had said that made him feel uncomfortable.

--

Waking up to the sound of someone knocking on her room door, she woke up to another day. For a second or two she was confused as to where she was. Then she remembered the escape and coming to this place, the evening with the mice, Rimfire, Vinnie..

The knock came a second time. She rose up and walked to the door, opening it. Rimfire was standing there, looking ready to fall asleep, and Vinnie was standing beside him, all ready to go. Vinnie gave her a smile and obviously tried to remember something. "Goood.. Uh.. Mourning.." he then said. For a while she just looked at him without blinking an eye, which made him nervously switch his weight, then at Rimfire who smiled to her sheepishly. First she giggled and it ended up in a laugh. She smirked at Vinnie and bid him good mornings as well.

Finally understanding that he had been had, Vinnie punched Rimfire to the arm. "Ouch, stop that!" the boy said and scratched at the place where Vinnie had hit him. Vinnie ordered Rimfire to tell her something. "So, we just came by to ask you for breakfast. That is, if you want to come."

Although she had eaten like a horse the other night, she already found her stomach rumbling. Agreeing to come, she asked them to wait for a moment so she could wash her face and go to the toilet. Closing the door she went to the small room that was the rest room of her room. 'Thank God the toilet seat is at least easy to use' she thought when she saw it.

--

"So was this yours or Vinnie's idea to pick me up?" she asked when they were standing on the food line of the Freedom Fighter's.

The young mouse yawned, "Vin man's. He came by early and literally dragged me out of my bed and drove me here"

A warm feeling went over her and she could feel a blush creep up on her cheeks. 'Oh damn, not now!' she thought desperately. Vinnie was right behind her on the food line, and she didn't want him to see her blushing. She was quite certain he could associate his own name and her blushing together. 'Oh, this is so junior high..'

--

Days went by and Marnia learned something new every day. After a while she asked Rimfire to teach her some basic Martian words, and soon she realized she understood words or full sentences that someone said.

Because she didn't want to be dragged along all the time, she asked if there was anything she could from Stoker. Since Freedom Fighter's medic team was short of mice, she soon found herself from the medic bay with Harley. Harley was a nice young female mouse who didn't care if Marnia didn't understand things right away. Harley herself didn't have the proper education either; her foremost job was mechanic.

Marnia's mother had been a nurse, so that had given her some insight to the medical side. Her mother had been in different countries while on Earth; helping in organizations that tried to save people from deadly illnesses and try to ease the patient's suffering.

Some evenings she found herself tagging along with Vinnie, Throttle, Modo, Harley and Rimfire to the one and only tavern there was. Those evenings where outlets to them all. Even though Rimfire was just a child, he too had had his share of war horrors.

Vinnie and Marnia's friendship had vastly developed. The others thought it funny that even though they hardly understood what they said to each other, they still talked in their own languages, and seemed to have no problems whatsoever in understanding each other. Of course, if they were to talk long conversations, then they needed Rimfire to translate. Sometimes they would leave the tavern hand in hand, or sometimes just lean against each other. And there was no exception to the fact that every time they went somewhere, she was riding behind Vinnie.

It was after six months of being with the cave mice that she heard of the upcoming party from Harley when they were working in med bay..

"It's going to be a big party Marnia! Why don't you come with me? I think I have something you can wear in my closet. I can do your hair, you can do mine.. It will be a perfect girl's night out!" Harley suggested to her while checking down the amount of needles they had in store.

"Eh.. I don't know Harley.. I mean, it's Freedom Fighter's party. Your party! I'm just a low life from Earth, what would I be doing there?" Marnia complained, not the least bit enthusiastic about the party. She had gone to couple school parties when she had been in high school. Needless to say after those couple ones she didn't want to go anymore. Drunken people, everybody was pushing you around, hypnotic music & lights that hurt your eyes in the long run.. Not to mention people who did drugs in those parties as well..

"It's not just for FFs! There will be army guys and others who are on our side too. Come on, please? For me? I don't want to go alone, I don't even have a guy to go with" Harley pleaded.

Marnia sighed. There was no saying 'No' to Harley.

--

The black, simple cut dress Harley had given her hugged her features snugly. Her violet hair was done up in one, thick ponytail that was on top of her head. She loved the way Harley had made her hair felt like silk.

Standing near an empty bar stool she glanced around the club. The hypnotic lights and music was there, just like in school parties, and the small dance floor was packed with mice. She had come with Harley but the minute they had sat down some buffed up and handsome looking army man had come and asked Harley to dance with him. So, now Marnia was alone, sipping her drink.

"Olan" ("Hello") a deep voice said behind her and a furry hand reached around her middle. She squeaked at the intrusion and whipped around. The male mouse was at least two heads taller than her, he had a grey & black fur and he had army clothes on.

"What's up nimcy?" ("sweetheart"), he drawled, clearly drunken but not enough to have lost the coordination of his muscles, "You here all by yourself?" His breath smelled like cat pee, but she didn't say it aloud. His grip on her waist tightened and he pulled her closer to him.

"Let me go" she said and struggled against him.

"Hey, hey, hey.. Don't worry beauty, I won't hurt you. Badly." His intentions were clearly hidden beneath his words, and she got really scared. No one would see or hear if this rhino of a man would drag her somewhere behind the curtains and rape her.

All of a sudden a white furred, muscled hand appeared like out of nowhere and hit the army guy straight to the left side of his face. Surprised, he yelped and let go of her. She felt like she was once again able to breath normally. That's when she noticed that Vinnie was also there.

"What the hell do you think you are doing, aatri?" ("arsehole") he asked in a hostile voice. He was tensed up and his hands were in tight fists.

"I was just talking to the lady here you freedom fighter jerk!" he yelled angrily, his eyes blazing with hatred.

"She clearly told you to let go of her," Vinnie hissed angrily.

The army guy looked at both Vinnie and Marnia. "Ti rupes ida?" ("You two date?") he asked while rubbing his hurting face.

After a moment of silence Vinnie answered him, "Si'z mi" ("She's mine")

Marnia knew what the words meant and gasped at realization. The army guy just nodded and backed off. He had probably tried to fight against a Freedom Fighter before, and decided to back down before he got himself hurt for real.

Marina and Vinnie didn't care about him anymore though, nor did they see him leave. Vinnie wasn't looking at Marina, but she stared at him, stunned by his words. As if sensing she was upset he wished he could take those words back. He didn't know for sure if she wanted a relationship with him. Hell, why would she because to her he was an alien from another planet. Frustrated for the first time in his life at his boldness he cursed himself, but took his chance and turned to look at her.

Like he had suspected, she was upset. Her eyes were wide and her mouth had opened just a little because of the shock. She stood frozen to the spot and after a while of staring dropped her head and gaze down. It was too much for him. Turning around he started pushing his way through the dancing crowd to get outside and away from the situation.

--

Marnia didn't know what had just happened. She was just about to make her first move, her heart thumping in her chest and the sound of blood rushing through her veins in her ears. But he had left before she had the change to say anything. For the second time in just couple minutes, she was stunned.

"Go after him"

She turned her head to the right to see the speaker. It was Throttle. "Wha.. What just..?" She couldn't understand.

"Look, if you really like him, go after him" he advised.

That was all she needed. As if the ice had broken around her, she spun to action and started pushing her way through the crowd just like Vinnie had done. She was breathing heavily once she had gone through and she ran outside as fast as she could in a dress and high heels.

Just as she got to the parking lot she heard the familiar sound of Vinnie's bike motor roar to life. "Vinnie!!" she yelled, but he had already put his helmet on and was racing to the exit and straight into the night.

Watching him speeding away as fast as she could she felt something inside her broke to pieces. 'Damn, why did I just stood there like an idiot? I should've done something right away!' she mentally whipped herself. It was good that she did, because the anger towards herself soon turned into a plan. Just like Throttle had said, go after him.

Problem was that Marnia didn't have a bike like the others did. She had always hitched a ride from someone. Usually Vinnie. Just thinking about him made her soul ache. If she blew this..

A gold coloured bike with a white figure painted on the casing was right next to her, with two helmets on top. 'Well, this is an emergency', she thought as she took Harley's bike.

--

Marnia had been here before. Parking Harley's bike beside Vinnie's she killed the engine and took off her helmet. Vinnie's bike greeted her by beeping.

"Hey Sweetheart, good to see you too" Marnia said to the AI. She got off the bike and left the helmet with the bike, she wouldn't need it in the garden.

This was the place where the cave mice had put the seeds what they gathered from the Martian nature. Trees, grass, flowers.. All were here. Along with a small pond Vinnie had shown it to her last time they had been here with the others. It had been a beautiful and happy day. Marnia wasn't sure yet how this day would end up being.

Going straight for the pond she found the lone figure she was searching for. He was sitting on the grass near the pond, looking something in his hand.

"Vinnie?" she hesitantly asked. The mouse in question flinched when he heard her voice and put whatever he had had in his hand back to his pocket.

"Marnia please, I.. I just need some time alone, okay?" He sounded so wounded it hurt her.

"Vinnie, about what you said back at the club, I want you to know that.."

He stood up and faced her. "Look, I said it because I wanted that guy to leave you alone, and I'm pretty sure he'll never harass you again. It was nothing more. Nothing more.." his voice nearly disappeared towards the end and he turned to look over the pond once again.

She gathered the remains of her courage and stepped close to him, letting her hand go rest on his shoulder. "What if I want it to be more?" she asked silently.

Marnia could feel him tense up. Then he slowly turned himself to look at her. Their eyes met and there were no questions anymore. She looked at him with love and devotion, and that tiny spark that always lit in her eyes when she was laughing, was there again. There was nothing more beautiful in the universe to him than this woman.

He let his fingers tangle up in her hair that was framing her face. The silky soft strands felt heaven to him. Cupping her cheek with one hand and placing his other arm around her waist, he leaned down to capture her lips in a hot kiss.

They were both hesitant at first, but the feeling of their joined bodies, the heat between them and the urge they felt to know each other's bodies soon made the kiss heated. Their tongues danced a dance of their own as their hands explored their bodies through the fabric of their clothes.

She moaned low in her throat as his tongue surged into her mouth and his hand lifted her by her buttocks up and against him. She thought she was going to faint, it felt so heavenly to be held by him, and wherever he touched it left a tingling sensation to her skin.

She draped her arms around his neck and pushed her head away from the kiss, gasping for air. "I think I need some time to breathe" she said with a lovely smile. In his eyes, her face seemed to glow faintly. He rubbed her cheek with one of his fingers.

He leaned down again, but only rained kisses on her cheeks, nose and forehead. She closed her eyes and enjoyed his show of affection for her. After a while he stopped and leaned to let their foreheads touch. She leaned up and touched his face gently with her nose, then back to let their foreheads touch again.

Marnia felt safe and warm in his embrace. He had his arms around her in a protecting way, which was good since in her haste, she had forgot her jacket at the club. And Martian night air could be very, very cold.

Her hands in return were inside his jacket, making slow strokes up and down his back. They stood there in silence for a while, just enjoying the closeness of one another.

"What were you looking at when I came here?" she asked silently finally breaching the silence between them.

He lifted his head back but still hold her tightly. A myriad of emotions went over his face that moment. "I.." he started but stopped, "I think I better show you." He let go of her and got his wallet out of his pocket. She was disappointed that their contact was broken, but also interested in what he was about to show her.

Flipping the wallet open she saw he had photos inside. Vinnie gave the wallet to her, and she looked at the first photo inside. It was Vinnie with Throttle and Modo when they had been just young kids. It was quite dark so she had to squint her eyes to see clearly.

"Here, let me help you with that" Vinnie suddenly said and stepped out from in front of her, and stepped behind her, placing his arms around her again but giving her space to use her hands to flip through the photos.

The light the two moons shone down made her see the photos clearly. She smiled at the boy's goofy smiles in the first photo. "Aw.. You guys look so sweet" she cooed.

Vinnie smirked "Yeah, but we were all little devils though."

She chuckled and flipped to the next photo. It was Vinnie's baby photo and she had to laugh at his appearance.

"What !?" Vinnie sounded offended, "Mice are born with no fur, there is nothing funny in it"

"Oh, I'm sorry babe." She reached up and gave him a kiss to the lips. It made him smile and he gave her a kiss back.

The third photo was of Vinnie's, she presumed it was his, family. Strict looking male mouse, smiling female mouse and four mice children were in the photo. "I didn't know you had any sisters Vinnie" Marnia sounded shocked.

She felt Vinnie tremble slightly. "I.. I had sisters. They are all dead, killed by the Plutarkians," he said in a somber voice.

She turned to face him completely. His eyes told her of grief and sadness. Placing one hand on his cheek she rose to her tiptoes and reached to kiss him. In that moment there was nothing else in the universe they were thinking about. It was just the two individuals who were aliens in one another's country, but deeply in love despite that fact.

"Mi lara" ("My love") she whispered to him when the kiss ended. They both had tears in their eyes and he reached to gather her to his arms and just held her tight against him.

When he loosened his grip she managed to see that there was still one empty place for a photo. Closing the wallet she gave it back to him. "So which of these photos you were looking at?" she asked when he had tucked the wallet away.

He looked down at her. "The empty one. I thought that.. That I wouldn't get this one photo there which I have wanted for so long"

She gave him a puzzled look.

"Photo of us"

--

Stoker was standing on the balcony of the FF HQ. It had been calm for many months now. The Plutarkians hadn't attacked any of the borderline villages for a while now. Not a single hostile attempt at the mice for weeks.

Just.
Too.
Calm.

'The calm before the storm', he thought as he crossed his arms against his chest and surveyed the view.

--

"Oh man, I'm jumping OUT of my SKIN if there are no battles soon!" Vinnie complained to his bro.

"You know Vinnie, hearing you say that almost makes me think you don't want the war to end" Throttle said tiredly while he fixed something on his bike, his back to Vinnie.
"Er.." Vinnie started, but was stopped by Modo who had appeared to the garage, "Vinnie's right. It has been way too quiet for quite some time now. The stink faces must be up to something."

Throttle cleaned his hands to a rag and threw it away sighing angrily. "You guys are right. Has Stoker said something?" he addressed his question to Modo.

"Yeah, he's thinking about sending couple mice there to take a look and report back." Throttle nodded.

Two young mice girls walk past them and give the guys a wink. "Hey boys," they coo to them as they walk a sexy hip walk. Modo blushes while Throttle just smiles and says them a hello too. The girls' eyes ran them all up and down and make a suggestive nod. Then they disappear behind the corner.

"Wow.." Modo just says and rubs his head to chase the dirty thoughts away that had just bobbed up there. "You know Modo, this makes me wonder that why on Mars didn't Vinnie say something to those lovely ladies?" They both turn to look at the mouse in question.

He is coolly leaning against his bike and giving his bro's a grin. Then, pointing at the entrance of the garage he says, "That's why."

As the boys turn their heads they see Marnia walking to them. Giving all of them a smile she wonders what they were talking about. Vinnie goes to her first and pulls her into a hug. "Hi there, Beauty" he says and covers her mouth with his. She's all too happy to give kiss him back too.

Modo and Throttle starts to whistle and then make coughing sounds as the kiss lingers on and on. A little out of breath their friends end their kiss. "Hello there, Handsome" she purrs back to him.

Suddenly a high-pitched noise starts to blare inside the garage and the red warning lights start to rotate as well. Marnia feels Vinnie tense up, and she can see the same transformation in Vinnie's bros as well. "What is it?" she asks in awe.

Vinnie lets go of her and turns to his bros. "Plutarkians" they all say in unison before heading for their bikes. Other freedom fighters are already piling inside the garage and running to their bikes. Marnia walks beside Vinnie who had already hopped on his bike.

"Stay inside, you'll be safe here" Vinnie tells her and takes his helmet. Marnia nods, a little scared by the fact that he's going out there. Before putting his helmet on, he reaches for her and they share a quick kiss. Pulling away from her and putting his helmet on he starts his bike.

"Go whip some tail!" she yells so he could hear her and smiles. Vinnie grins, "You're my kinda woman!" Then he accelerates and leaves the garage to join the other freedom fighters in the fight. She stands there for a while and watches his retreating back until she can't see him anymore.

Finally she left and headed for the med bay. If she was right, there would be hurt soldiers and freedom fighters soon. She just hoped Vinnie and his bros would not be among them..

--

Broken limbs, severely hurt eyes from blasts, large bleeding grenade and shot wounds, bleeding cuts, detached body parts and blood.. So much blood.. Marnia screwed her eyes shut. Somehow she had managed to stand there and help the doctors and other nurses. She wondered how her mother had managed to keep her cool in these situations.

A hand touched her shoulder and she opened her eyes. "Are you all right, babe?" his silent voice asked in a concerned tone. She turned and threw herself into Vinnie's embrace. "I am now," she mumbled against his warm chest.

He hummed in content at her words and tightened his hold on her.

--

The attack the Plutarkians had made left two mice villages filled with bodies. Adults, children, babies.. Some of the freedom fighters had joined in the operation of collecting the bodies and doing the Martian war burial to them; burning the bodies.

Harley and Marnia were there too, ordered by the chief doctor from med bay. Marnia had seen and heard the burial chants of the mice for the first time, and she found out that the chants didn't differ much from the hymns sang at her local church back on Earth.

As the fire licked the mummy looking corpses of the dead mice, she couldn't feel anything else except helplessness and hate. The cave mice had touched her heart in a way she never would've known. After the rocky start she had had, she had come to love this alien species.

And then there were the damned Plutarkians. The ones who had robbed her of father, Vinnie of his family.. Her fingers curled into tight fists.

Stoker had also told them about the bought off Martian government who almost gave everything to the Plutarkians on a silver platter. The army was no better. Clueless and stupid, they did everything their government told them to.

Harley came standing beside Marnia and gave her a tired smile. "We are almost ready to leave now" she said and laid her hand on Marnia's shoulder to give her some support. "Okay," Marnia whispered, "just give me a minute." Harley nodded and left.

Marnia inhaled and exhaled deeply but softly. Harley was right, it was time to leave. Turning she gave a slight yelp as she came face to face with Mace.

"Mace! Jeez, you almost gave me heart attack!" she exclaimed, wide-eyed. "Oh? I'm so sorry, but you have to come with me" the brown colored freedom fighter said.

"Uh, why? Where?" she asked, alarmed as she took a step back from him. Mace took hold of her wrist, "Because there is someone who needs medical attention, right now." He turned and dragged her towards the rock formation not far from them.

She had always been alarmed with Mace. He would, from time to time, eye her in a way she did not like. She hadn't told Vinnie about it, why worry him and make things more edgy around the base?

Turning her head back to see the other mice getting ready to leave, she thought about yelling something to Vinnie who was strapping a package to his bike. In the end she decided against it. How foolish of her..

Right after they had gone inside the enormous rock formation, Marnia looked around to see the one who she had come to help. Not seeing anyone she turned to look at Mace and opened her mouth, but seeing that the mouse had her at gunpoint, the words left her.

Mace chuckled at her astonished look. "Now, as you can see, there's no one here," he said and made a gesture with his hand to point that there was nothing, "Screaming for help won't help you either, this formation is a good sound buffer, not to mention we are too far from the ones who would try to help you."

She seethed in rage, even though it didn't help her one bit. Mace was right, there wasn't anything she could do. "Vincent will soon notice that I'm not there" she tried, but in vain.

"I know, that's why we have to work quickly" the mouse sneered. Noting the danger too late, she felt a hand grab her from behind. Then everything went dark.

--

"Hi Harley" Vicent said as the female mouse walked past him. "Hi Vinnie" she chirped back at him. "You haven't seen Marnia around..?" Vinnie asked her, knowing she and Marnia had come best friends from almost the day they met.

"Yes, I.." she started and turned to look at the small hill she had come down just now, "That's strange.. I just left her right there but now she's not there anymore.."

A dread feeling came upon him. Leaving Harley with his bike he jogged the short distance to the hilltop, his gun loaded and ready.

--

"Come on, we have to work quickly or otherwise one of those fucking bikers comes here.." Mace seethed. He knew all rats were slow and a bunch of slobs (even though he was one himself), but this was getting too much for him too.

Positioning the passed out girl into one of the bikes Mace ordered one of the rats to hop behind her and take her to the secret place they had found and claimed as their own.

Hopping on to his bike Mace went to the lead, "Follow me!"

Just as the two rats were about to go after him, a sound alerted them from behind. Taking a glance back they saw a white freedom fighter mouse enter. "Marn.." his sentence was cut short when he saw the rats and especially the one who had his girl with him.
"Hey!" he yelled and the walls echoed his voice.

The rats took the most obvious way. Getting their guns they opened fire at the Martian mouse. Vinnie rolled out of the way and returned fire. He couldn't shoot directly at the other rat though; he feared he might hit Marnia on the way.

The other rat went down with a yelp. Seeing what had happened to his friend, the other left burning rubber but still returning fire. Vinnie stood up and watched as the rat went on and took his girl with him. Not wasting any second he sprinted for his bike.

--

Marnia woke up slowly. The ghastly smell of wet fur greeted her, and she tried to remember what the heck had happened. 'MACE!' she thought panicky and her eyes shot open in an instant.

"Well, well.. Look who just woke up?" Mace's voice greeted her from the darkness. She blinked to see more clearly, but he stepped into the light so she could see him.

"Wh.. Why? Why did you do this?" she asked with a shaking voice. She didn't understand why a Martian freedom fighter mouse would capture her.

"You, my dear, " he said and walked around her in a slow circle, "are very valuable to a person that I know."

"Me!? Valuable? To whom?" she was scared because she thought that she knew the answer. As she had feared, Mace said the name that brought chills down her spine.

"Well, Lord Camembert for one example," he said as he traced his fingers along the rim of her jacket's neckline, touching her skin on the way. She shuddered. "How about the whole Plutarkian army?" he finished and took his hand away. She felt better the second their contact was broken.

"I have never seen a rotten mouse before, but guess I have know" she spat angrily, finding strength to rail this man up, "You are doing this just for the money?"

Mace chuckled and then did something that left her gasping. He pulled off the mouse like face he had, and revealed the ugly face of a rat underneath. "You are a rat!?" she shout in amazement.

"Mm.. Yes I am. Now you know the truth. I'm not on the mice's side. I have never been. The Plutarkians told us rats that we could have this land to ourselves, after they were done taking what they want and killing off the cave mice population. For return, we fight beside them against the mice" he told her and stepped right in front of her, leaning towards her face. As he came eye level with her, he studied her features and clicked his tongue.

"You are a rare beauty. Now wonder that stupid, loony freedom fighter wanted you. He scored because he was with you from day one, isn't that right? I bet you fucked his brains out every night, huh? Or was it the other way around?" he taunted her.

She was seething with rage after he finished, and because she found herself tight into the chair very tightly, she spun her head and hit his with a crunch. "You just watch and wait you.. You stupid rat! When Vinnie finds out where I am.." she yelled in a shaky voice, tears in her eyes.

She yelped as Mace took hold of her face and pressed, hard. "You fucking bitch!" he shouted as he felt blood starting to drip from a wound on his face, "When I get back here tonight, you'll start wishing we kill you.." His last words were said in an angry hiss, and she trembled in the chair, swallowing back sobs that threatened to come.

The door was shut with a bang when Mace left. She huddled in the darkness for a while, then let the tears fall and the sobs came with them..

--

The trash bin received a powerful kick from a white mouse who was fuming. The bin made several banging noises before it stopped it's rolling in front of Stoker. The dent from the kick had made the trash bin useless. Pushing the bin to the side with his leg, Stoker came beside the white mouse.

Reaching for Vinnie's shoulder Stoker tried to comfort the mouse. "Rookie, don't worr.."

"Don't worry!? Don't worry!? How can I NOT worry!? My girl's out there as a prisoner! What if those rats do something to her?" he screamed and the garage echoed his words.

Stoker reached to grab the young mouse's other shoulder and turn him to face his mentor. "Get a hold of yourself, Vinnie! You're not helping yourself or Marnia! You need to be cool in order to see the clear picture here."

Vinnie stared Stoker straight in the eye with a furious look, but after a while he surrendered and sighed, his shoulders dropping. Stoker was right, as always.

"That's better," Stoker sighed, "I came to tell you about something though.. Something that might help you find Marnia"

Vinnie's hopeful look made Stoker smile. "I asked the tech guys to trace Mace's movements over the last couple days. Looks like when we were in that borderline village, he parked his bike inside that rock formation you told us about. From there he drove to an abandon base we have not used for years now. It's on Plutarkian soil. Mace has been going there and back here again many times."

Vinnie couldn't believe what Stoker was saying. "But.. But Mace is one of us! Why would.."

"I started question his loyalty after I saw that he had accessed some of our most important logs over the time. Not to mention sending some information from our servers to an unknown server, which the tech boys were quickly able to found out as Plutarkian."

Vinnie's face went from astonished to angry. "That.. That rat! Where is he? I'm going to.." Vinnie started and rolled up his sleeves.

"Wow, wow.. Hold it rookie!" Stoker's hands were holding him down, "Before you take down the whole building, might I suggested that you get your bros and tell the situation to them? You are going to need back-up there, because you are going behind enemy lines."

Nodding to Stoker, Vinnie left in search for his bros. Mace was going down, that was for sure..

--

Marnia shivered on the chair she had been sitting on for hours. She had no idea what time it was, or how long she had really been sitting there. The multiple bruises she had all over her body made movement painful, so she tried to hold still as best as she could. Her lip was busted also but the blood had dried and the wound wasn't bleeding anymore.

Mace hadn't really done his worst on her yet. The last time he had been there and beat her, he had said that he would take this slow on her, to make it more painful. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to think about something else than the fact that he would be coming down here soon.

And the Plutarkians? Mace had talked with them about her prize. Her prize, for God's sake. Sucking on her lower lip she winced at the stinging pain that came when she did it. The taste of her own blood was on her tongue.

She almost wished they would come to a decision with it. Though she never thought she would think this way, she would gladly go with the Plutarkians than be here with Mace and his rat buddies.

She wondered what would happen to her. And would she ever see Vinnie again..

--

Throttle sucked in his breath. "Mace is a traitor!?"

Vinnie nodded, serious. "And he kidnapped Marnia. He was with those two rats. I didn't see him then, but Stoke has had him on his sights for weeks now. The trail goes there as well. Are you guys in or out?"

The look on Vinnie's face was almost scary in a way. He was, for the first time, deadly serious about going for a fight. Whenever they had left to battle against the Plutarkians he had been excited about it. But now..

Modo was only barely holding it together. He stood there, his hands in tight fists and his whole massive form shaking. Suddenly he just whirled around and let his fist hit the concrete wall. Throttle glanced him with a worried frown.

"I'm in" Modo muttered, still not facing his bros.

"Throttle?" Vinnie asked.

"I'm in"

--

"Good news Sweetheart" the hated voice of Mace came over, "We came to a decision with what's your worth. Soon you'll be back where you were in the first place, and we will be wealthy rats!"

The three rats with him smirked and congratulated each other.

Marnia only shuddered and hang her head low. She didn't want them to see her tears.


"'Dead rats' sounds more like it"

The cold voice behind the rats made their eyes widen in shock. Marnia knew that cold, barely controlled voice. Vinnie.

Vinnie and his bros were standing in the doorway, armed from head to toe with all kind of nasty looking weapons. The three rats Mace had had with them turned in one swift move, their weapons ready, but they were too slow.

The anxiety the biker mice had felt upon learning the news about Mace had built up slowly inside them. Their reflexes were almost super-mouse as they dodged and fired their own weapons at the same time.

Mace had quickly gone behind Marnia and untied her ties, taking the coward's way out; using the woman as a shield. Mace knew how good the mice were. His rat buddies wouldn't have a chance. Taking his gun out, he pressed it to her temple, "Make a sound and I'll kill you."

The rats went done quickly, the three mice drilling their bodies full with holes. Their bleeding bodies were left on the floor as they went after Mace who had left with Marnia.

Vinnie was on the lead for the first time in his life. Throttle knew Vinnie wanted to do this, and he didn't want to push his bro at the moment, even though Stoke wouldn't have agreed with him. Vinnie was in a relationship with Marnia, which gave him an emotional attachment to this case.

They caught up with Mace outside the old base building. Mace was behind Marnia, his gun trained on her temple.

"Let her go Mace, it's over" Vinnie growled at him, his own gun pointed at the duo.

Marnia's eyes were full of fear and dread. Her eyes were little puffy and red, which told them she had been crying not long ago. She winced every time she had to put her full weight on her left leg and she favoured her right arm as well. The busted lip could be clearly seen. Vinnie was fuming and barely reining himself in when he saw what they had done to his girl.

"Over?" Mace asked, and then laughed hollowly, "I don't think so shit head" he seethed and dragged Marnia couple meters back again.

Vinnie took couple steps forward.

"You come any fucking closer and I'll fucking kill this bitch!" Mace yelled. He was starting to get afraid of the situation. He only had the bitch as a cover, and the three mice were spread out quite long away from each other. If he was protected from one, he was vulnerable to the other.

Vinnie seethed angrily upon hearing Mace's words. He still had his gun trained on the duo in front of him, but he didn't have a clear shot.

Then Modo decided to act. He took couple fast steps and threw himself forward firing his gun at Mace. Mace had seen the movement and turned himself and Marnia to Modo's general direction.

Modo's shot hit Marnia on the right shoulder and she gave a yelp when she felt the laser cut her skin. Mace shot at Modo, who got a direct hit to his chest. He didn't even give a sound as he went down.

In his haste, Mace had forgot Throttle and Vinnie. When he took cover against Modo he had turned his back to Throttle and even Vinnie had a good sight of his side.

The bullets rippled through his body and he felt the control of his body slip away. His grip lessened on Marnia and she was able to get free of him. Turning she watched in horror at Mace who looked into her eyes with a surprised expression on his face. His mouth made an O -shape and then he fell to the ground, eyes open, watching the sky. He was dead.

"Marnia!" Vinnie yelled and ran to her, putting his hands to her forearms and turning her to face him. She looked up to his eyes. "Vinnie.." she whispered, and then she passed out against him. Vinnie caught her and pressed her against him. "Marnia!?" he asked, scared.

The cut Modo's shot had made didn't look bad, and it wasn't even bleeding anymore. Placing her gently to the ground Vinnie examined the wound more closely. Taking the bandanna around his neck, he quickly tied it around her wound.

Throttle had gone examining Modo's wound the minute Mace had went down. He was in a way more bad shape than Marnia was. His chest wound was bleeding, and every pump of his heart made more blood gush out of the wound.

"Shit, shit, SHIT!" Throttle cursed whole-heartedly. "Come on Modo, hold on" he whispered to the giant and called for Vinnie. They had to come up with a plan to save Modo's life.

--

She woke up to the smell of fresh flowers. Her mother had always hang fresh flowers close to her crib when she had been just a little baby. When she got older, she realized that she did indeed sleep and relax better if she had flowers near her.

Opening her eyes she realized she wasn't on Earth. She was still in Mars, in her own room. Propping her body up she noticed the weird looking flowers on the vase beside her bed. Even though the flowers didn't look so beautiful, the smell they emitted to the room was very good. She took one of them from the vase and closing her eyes, inhaled the scent of it.

"I thought you might like 'em" a voice said. Her eyes shot open and she turned to the direction of the voice. Vinnie came out of the shadows, a slight smile on his lips.

That's when she remembered what had happened. The kidnapping. Mace. The rats. Getting beaten up. The guys coming for her rescue. Getting shot at. Mace dying.. And..

"Is Modo alright?" she asked, afraid of the answer.

Vinnie came sitting to the edge of her bed, chuckling. "You went through Hell and all you think is how's Modo doing." He put his hand to her arm caressed it. "He's ok. We got him to safety."

She exhaled. "Good." His touch on her arm felt good and she felt the warmness spread over her body. After feeling lone and cold for so long, she desperately wanted more. Reaching for him she put her arms around his neck and hold him close to her body.

He put his arms around her waist in return and inhaled the scent of her hair. His left arm stroked her back in soothing waves. He gave a kiss on the top of her head. "It's gonna be all right babe" he murmured to her ear.

She backed her head back a little. Enough to come eye to eye with him. She let her hand caress his cheek. Then heir heads slowly inched closer and closer.. Until their lips touched. It felt so good and so right they both got caught up with the moment.

Soon the gentle kiss turned into fierce lip lock. She got up enough to place herself into his lap. His hands went inside her shirt and touched her bare skin, which left a tingling feeling go over her. Her own hand trailed down his front, lower and lower, until her fingers edged on the rim of his freedom fighter cargo pants. Then her fingers went inside..

That was when he realized what might happen and why it was wrong. "Marnia" he said forcefully, ending the kiss and taking her hand away from his pants. She looked shocked.

Vinnie sighed. "As much as I'd love to do this.. You have just been though Hell. This..," he meant what they had just about done, "This will not help. The doc told me this might happen."

She hung her head ashamed of herself. She knew what the doctor had meant. Her feelings were on a roller coaster ride right now. She wanted to feel wanted and loved, but she had taken the wrong road here. In a way she would have just used Vinnie.

"Sorry" she whispered. He pulled her into his embrace. "Don't be Gorgeous, it's not your fault. Besides," he caught her eyes, "when you are okay again, we can continue where we left off" he said and winked at her.

She smiled at him and gave him a kiss. "Stay with me?" she begged like a little child. Seeing his troubled gaze, she added "Please?"

"Okay" he said silently and placed them both on the bed. She snuggled up on him and laid her head beside his, her nose gently touching his cheek. Her hand went to his chest and she marveled the velvety feeling of his fur. Sighing in content, she drift off to sleep..

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All Martian words are from CODENAME: BIKER MICE FROM MARS >> PROJECT: MARTIAN DICTIONARY website, and some I just made up (: